WEDNESDAY, 14th FEBRUARY, 1917. (At Harrismith.) Present : J. O. Giles, Esq. (Chairman), H. H. Paynter, Esq., F. E. Venn, Esq.

JOHN HENRY WARD, Farmer, Bosworth, Peecanning, East Narrogin, sworn and examined :

8292. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been settled in this district?-- I came here in 1908, and was previously employed by Dalgety & Co. I hold 3,881 acres classed as first class land but from the wheat producing point of view it is only second class. The average price of the blocks runs out at 10s. The land is four miles from a railway; it is all sheep proof fenced with the exception of 500 acres. There are six paddocks; 900 acres are cleared. I have four dams 10 feet deep, each 1,500 cubic yards. I could get down to 12 feet. Three of them are permanent when clean. The rainfall is about 13½ inches. I am a married man and have a five roomed bat house, an iron roofed stable, 70 by 32, a machinery shed of iron and jarrah used also as a wool shed, a set of implements, 11 working horses, nine cattle, 900 sheep and two pigs. My total investment on the property is £5000. I have 360 acres of crop and 15 acres of oats, which yielded 20 tons of hay, while the wheat averaged 12 bushels. 8292a. By Mr PAYNTER : How much of that was fallow?- 180 acres I ploughed four inches deep. I gave the land no cultivation beyond what the sheep gave it before seeding time. I prefer Worlds Champion seed and sow one bushel to the acre and 60lbs. of super. My bags cost me this season £48 18s. 4d., including freight, manure cost £55, insurance £6 17s., repairs £9 11s. 6d., and sundries £4. That does not include wages. The actual wages for farming amount to £48 plus the cost of keep £25. Of course, that does not include the man's labour all the year round. Then to that has to be added the cost of 180 acres of fallow £60, total £260 for 360 acres or about 14s. 6d. an acre. The 360 acres took from the middle of April to the 1st June to put in. I can do 18 acres a day with a 13 disc drill, but no one could keep that going for long. No living expenses or my own time are calculated in the estimate I have given you. Larger teams would undoubtedly reduce costs. The tariff is far too heavy; the farmer seems to be the dead end and cannot pass it on. If we could save our bags bulk handling would be an advantage. The farmer would require of course a few hundred bags. I have had a little blight in my crops. I pickle and grade my wheat. I had done well with fruit trees and vegetables in picked spots. Last year I had a lot of seconds and turned it into pork. This year my whole crop is good and it will be marketed. The class of labour out here is unsatisfactory and wages run to £3 a week. I use a five furrow plough and a three furrow plough, the five furrow takes seven horses and does six acres a day, a 17 tine cultivator does 15 acres, a 13 disc drill 12 acres. I have a 6 ft. and a 5 ft. Sunshine harvester. With these I do about 11 acres a day. A man to make a living in this locality should have more than 2,000 acres and he should have anything from 600 to 1,000 acres cleared before he goes in for plant and horses. He should be able to do 300 acres every year single handed. Cooperation would be a good thing and I believe it is going to come. By this means the cost of handling and stacking can be reduced. The land laws are not encouraging ; the land is over valued, it is not worth 10s. After clearing you have sucker bashing for some years. The isolation out here, indifferent train service, want of schooling and other drawbacks are against us as well as the cost of freight and fares. For instance, I have not been able to go to Perth for more than three years. The roads are in a very bad condition and the rates cannot be collected. I really do not know what is going to happen this next winter. My clearing has averaged me less than 18s. so far, that is when the timber was dead; green country costs 23s.

8293. By Mr VENN : Of course you go in for sheep?- The only way to save oneself is to have sheep, but very few settlers are in a position yet to carry sheep as they have too much poison. Sheep keep the land clean, particularly the fallow and with the three years system sheep will do many times better. I do not think it will be a dairying country because we cannot grow summer feed and we cannot depend on the natural grasses after October.

8294. You will be surprised to hear that there is a very flourishing factory at Ororoo in South Australia which has a very much less rainfall than this and a few years ago was an outback place?- Yes, I am surprised, but be that as it may we cannot do here more than we are doing. We have not plenty of reliable labour available. Nevertheless I daresay we can milk for six months in the year.

8295. By the CHAIRMAN : Do you not consider your land is first class?- In the main it may be considered first class, that is for Western Australia, but it would be second class on an eastern estimate. With eight bushels at 3s. 4d. the farmer would barely pay his costs and the value of the land is affected by the sparse settlement and the absence of convenience and railway service. These are some of the disadvantages of settlement here. I have a school as it happens on my boundary, but the next school is 13 miles away, while the nearest doctor is at Narrogin.